25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:25-27 ESV
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Everyone knows that if you make a copy of a copy, you will be working from a distortion of the real thing, assuming you are trying to keep the content of the master artist. Imagine someone unskillful in art trying to recreate the Mona Lisa by hand; likely, their rendering of this classic piece of art will fail to capture the essence and craftsmanship of Da Vinci’s original. It seems absurd that people would choose the fake portrait to admire, especially if the original is accessible and the copy is garish and contorted.
Yet, our scripture indicates that man often exchanges the truth of God for the lie and chooses to worship and serve the creature rather than Creator. We have an entire culture of people today basing their worldview on the beauty of a fake piece of art, a distortion of the truth of who God is. Paul saw the disastrous consequences of this exchange, and we see it now even today. As people fall for the fake, they will descend into their vile passions and unnatural desires that go against God’s design for them as humans. In the following passage of scripture next week, we will see how far against God’s purposes for humanity we will go left entirely unchecked.